Tomato troubles? Buy local or grow your own

I don't anticipate any tomato shortages or problems with salmonella this summer. My tomatoes are growing great in my raised bed garden. I planted two different varieties - Big Boy and Beefsteak as well as some Sweet 100 grape tomatoes. I can't wait until they are ready. Yum! If you don't have a garden of your own you can always stop at one of the numerous roadside stands and farmer's markets this summer to get your tomato fix. An added bonus is that by purchasing your fruits and veggies locally you are keeping more money in the local economy. Right now, Michigan's economy could use all of the help it can get.

So, until my tomatoes are ready I'll be able to pick up some greenhouse tomatoes (that's all that's ready in Michigan right now) at Hubbard's Corey Lake Orchard or one of the local farmer's markets.

And, just for fun a cute little tomato ditty, "Home Grown Tomatoes."

Nothing in the World Like Homegrown Tomatoes

I don't mean to brag or boast, but our tomatoes this year are on pace to be the best looking ones we have ever grown. In years past I would try and see how early I could plant those buggers in the ground, but this year I waited. I think it was around the middle of May that we planted our tomatoes this year. We planted them in a raised bed consisting of top soil, compost, leaves from last fall, and topped off with composted cow manure. They have grown so large that my wife had to tie supports from the tomato branches to the tomato cages. We planted a couple of Grapette tomato plants and a few of another variety called Celebrity.

The Grapette tomatoes look like a cross between Cherry tomatoes and Roma tomatoes. They are elongated, but small and full of that wonderful tomato taste. So, I don't know if it was a combination of planting the tomatoes later in the spring and the nutritious soil or what. All I know is I will be eating a lot of tomato sandwiches and BLT's.

Is there anything quite like walking through your garden and plucking a perfectly ripe homegrown tomato and eating it right there in the garden? A wonderful sun-warmed treat that is hard to beat.

P.S. Where I come from a tomato sandwich merely consists of two slices of bread (white, wheat, who cares?), as many thick sliced tomatoes as the bread will hold, and a slathering of Miracle Whip. Oh, the memories from my childhood of picking the tomatoes from our garden with my dad and then sitting down to a feast of tomato sandwiches. Does life get much better than that?